A Star's Hidden Fire (Book One of the Harmony Chronicles) by K. Malady

Author:K. Malady [Malady, K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: K. Malady Books
Published: 2022-06-06T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Morning comes while Alec paces the small room waiting for dawn and the opening of the car dealership. For the first few hours, he planned. They will hide in the Amanas until Michael’s interest wanes, and he can determine the extent of Philip’s gift. Possibly for the length of Azalea’s life.

Azalea nodded off soon after their conversation and plotting, and he spent the smallest hours watching her sleep. She lies on her back, her blonde hair splayed across the pillow, her body melded into the colored sheets. He grabs his own hand to keep from trying to caressing her soft skin.

“That’s a little creepy,” she mumbles, her smoky voice raspier in the early morning. Her eyes flutter open. “How long have you been watching me? You know what, never mind. I don’t want to know.”

He sits beside her and hides his hands in his lap to keep them from trembling. With a huff, she opens her arms, and he falls into them. “You’re like a wiggly little puppy,” she says. “Always wanting to be near me and touch me.”

“I’m unused to physical contact that doesn’t involve pain or destruction,” he says into the soft skin of her neck. “Aside from other wraiths, who cannot comprehend a soft touch, I only touch others to steal their souls or punish them. To touch you, and be touched, in kindness is a revelation.”

This is why he can’t give her up, Rule break or no.

Something smug pools around her. “Who could have guessed Azalea Cross could make this strong, touch-starved, immortal creature so docile with just some light petting?” she teases. She strokes her fingers up and down his back. “We should reconsider the best option we have. The easiest way to keep Michael from hurting me and the Council punishing you is to convert me.”

He withdraws from her arms. “I’ve told you; I can’t do that.” Pain and exile are acceptable consequences to keeping her humanity intact; he’d deserve them both if he tried anything else.

“So, we’re just going to run from him forever?”

“No,” he says, the soothing sensations from her touch vanishing. “In time, he’ll give up and go back to his debauchery. At that point, you and I will be settled in a province so small and dull he’ll never find us.”

She stares at him wide-eyed. “I just left one shit-hole town, Alec. I’m not going to another one, especially for someone as awful as Michael.”

“Do you think you are the only one sacrificing? I am giving up my home, my family, everything I am for you for your lifetime,” he says, scowling. “Living a quiet life with you in hiding is our best hope in staying together and safe.”

She sits up, the blanket pooling around her waist and offering him the skin on her shoulders below her loose shirt. “I didn’t ask you to sacrifice all that. That’s on you.”

“I simply wish to keep you safe.”

Azalea tosses herself back on the bed. “And I’m saying, I’m willing to do whatever it takes, which includes becoming a wraith.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.